When the pears are green

Lunar New Year's eve.

Jiang Qingzhou was standing on a stool outside the courtyard gate pasting couplets. Song Li was holding the couplets, and Jiang Qingye was holding a broom in one hand and paste in the other, and the two stood on his left and right sides respectively.

Jiang Qian and Zhang Ying stood aside, waiting for Jiang Qingzhou to finish pasting the couplet.

Zhang Ying talked to Song Li from time to time.

"Sister-in-law, every New Year's Eve, the government office in town organizes a grand Nuo festival, which is very lively." Zhang Ying said to Song Li with a smile.

Song Li nodded expectantly.

"Sister-in-law, my brother and I went to see it before, it was really lively." After Jiang Qingye finished speaking, he dipped a broom in the paste and stretched out his arm to hand it to Jiang Qingzhou.

Jiang Qingzhou took it and smeared the paste on the broom on the back of the horizontal scroll and the door lintel. He pressed the horizontal scroll on the door lintel and finally pasted all the couplets.

Jiang Qingzhou jumped down from the stool with a broom in his hand, took the paste from Jiang Qingye's hand and put it on the stool, then carried the stool into the yard.

"Let's go. We can get a good seat if we go early." Jiang Qingzhou locked the gate and said to everyone with a smile.

Song Li looked at the rising sun and asked hesitantly, "When does the Great Nuo begin?"

"I remember that we usually wait until the sun rises to the treetops. It's still early now." Jiang Qingzhou explained to Song Li.

Before the five people left the village, they met many villagers from the same village who were walking towards Heihe Town together.

Song Li walked in the crowd, listening to the villagers talking about interesting stories about the Nuo. The girls covered their mouths and praised the two yamen constables who dressed up as door gods last year. A woman heard it and muttered that the one dressed up as the Kitchen God was better. The boys were talking about whether Zhong Kui's sister or Magu was prettier this year.

Seeing that Song Li was listening attentively, Jiang Qingzhou pulled Song Li's sleeve and carefully protected her to prevent her from being accidentally bumped into by others.

The group soon arrived at Heihe Town, and Song Li saw that there were already many people standing on both sides of the street where they usually set up stalls.

Zhang Ying looked at the crowds on both sides of the street. She smiled and said to Song Li, "It's not too late. Let's find a seat quickly!"

The five of them continued to move forward and finally found a good spot. Jiang Qian was afraid that Zhang Ying would be bumped into, so he hugged Zhang Ying in his arms.

Jiang Qingzhou held Song Li with one hand and Jiang Qingye with the other to prevent them from being separated by the crowd.

There are also vendors walking back and forth on the street selling snacks such as candied haws, melon seeds, and fried peanuts.

Some greedy children would beg adults to buy some for them. Whenever the vendors passed by, one could always hear the children laughing or crying.

Jiang Qingzhou also bought two strings of candied haws for Song Li and Jiang Qingye, and the two of them took them with a smile.

Song Li and Jiang Qingye passed the candied haws to Jiang Qingzhou's mouth from time to time, and the three of them happily shared the two strings of candied haws.

Song Li looked around and saw Song Yue, Song Xing, Wu Minghui and Wu Mingde across the street through the crowd in front of her. When she wanted to reach out and say hello, the sound of horse hooves rang out and cheers came from the crowd.

Six soldiers wearing bronze helmets and gold-painted iron armor rode away on fast horses, leaving only the afterimage of the red tassels on the bronze helmets.

The sound of horse hooves gradually faded away, and the sound of gongs and drums came from afar.

Song Li and the other two stood on tiptoe and saw two people carrying a big drum, with a man behind the drum beating it non-stop. Two or three meters away, about five or six people were walking slowly, beating gongs.

Someone in the distance shouted, "Look, it's the door god."

Song Li looked up and saw two tall door gods walking slowly towards them with square steps.

The door god on the left is wearing colorful armor and holding a golden halberd, while the door god on the right is wearing a black robe and holding a mountain-splitting axe.

Jiang Qingye asked Song Li: "Sister-in-law, what is the name of the door god?"

Song Li pointed at the door gods and answered softly, "The one on the left is Shentu, and the one on the right is Yulei."

Jiang Qingzhou, who was standing between the two of them, heard this and said to Song Li with a smile, "I only knew it was a door god before, but I didn't know what it was called. Now I have learned something from Xiaoli."

Both Song Li and Jiang Qingye were amused.

Behind the door god is Zhong Kui, who is wearing a mask and a red official robe. Next to Zhong Kui is his younger sister, who is wearing beaded earrings and a scarlet high-waisted, cross-collared long skirt.

People kept saying, "It's so beautiful." Sometimes someone would whistle, which would cause everyone to burst into laughter.

After Song Li heard this, she smiled and asked Jiang Qingzhou: "Is she beautiful?"

Jiang Qingzhou used his fingers to draw on Song Li's palm. He whispered in Song Li's ear: "In my mind, Xiaoli is the most beautiful."

The warm breath sprayed on Song Li's ears, and the tips of Song Li's ears slowly turned red. She quickly raised her head and continued to watch the parade on the street.

Behind them were the Kitchen God, the Eight Immortals, Magu, the Land God, the City God, etc. Until the crowd in the south dispersed, Song Li knew that the Nuo ceremony was over.

Song Li saw that there were still people chasing after the team, so she asked curiously, "Qingzhou, where did they go in the end?"

"It's in a wasteland not far from the town. It's called Burying the Evil Spirit." Jiang Qingzhou pointed to the west side of the stone tablet in Heihe Town.

Song Li nodded. She wanted to find Song Yue, but when she looked across, Song Yue and the others had disappeared.

Jiang Qingzhou followed Song Li's gaze and asked softly, "Xiao Li, what are you looking at?"

"I saw Yueyue, Xiaoxing, Minghui and Mr. Wu before the start, but now they are gone again. I don't know where they went." Song Li said a little disappointed.

Jiang Qingzhou looked around, and saw the crowd surging, and he didn't see Song Yue and the others. He retracted his gaze and comforted Song Li: "Don't worry, Master Wu is here."

At this time, Jiang Qian and Zhang Ying came over, and Jiang Qian asked, "Qingzhou, Yingniang and I are going back, are you guys going back?"

Jiang Qingzhou glanced at Song Li, who looked back at the crowd, but still didn't see Song Yue and the others. She turned her head in disappointment and whispered to Jiang Qingzhou, "Then go back."

Here, Song Yue and a few others were walking south along the crowd. Song Yue glanced at the crowd heading north, and she suddenly stopped, constantly looking back.

Seeing this, Song Xing hurriedly asked, "Second sister, what's wrong?"

"Xiaoxing, I think I saw my sister." After Song Yue said that, Song Xing also turned around with her and looked at the crowd walking north.

The two looked at each other for a while, and Song Xing pulled Song Yue's sleeve and said, "Second sister, let's go. We must have seen it wrong."

Song Yue nodded, and she and Song Xing quickly walked to Wu Minghui and Wu Mingde who were standing aside, and walked towards Li's shop together.

As night fell, Jiang Qingye looked at the dishes on the table excitedly.

"Meatballs, pork skin jelly, pork elbow stewed with dried vegetables, braised chicken, dumplings and fish. Sister-in-law, it's such a rich feast." Jiang Qingye jumped up and down happily.

Song Li sat next to Jiang Qingye and asked, "Qingye, eat more later. What did you eat in the past?"

Jiang Qingye glanced at Jiang Qingzhou who was standing beside him, and said softly, "Fried cabbage, stewed chicken, and dumplings."

"Wow, that's not bad! Let's eat quickly, or it will get cold soon." Song Li said to the two brothers with a smile.

After dinner, Jiang Qingzhou placed the bamboo sticks used for dust removal in the brazier. After the bamboo sticks burned, the three of them stepped over the brazier one by one.

Jiang Qingzhou took a few more bamboo tubes and placed them in the brazier, then said to Jiang Qingye: "Qingye, you go to sleep, Xiaoli and I will stay here."

After hearing this, Jiang Qingye turned around and went back to his room.

Jiang Qingzhou said to Song Li: "Qingye is too small, I used to stay here alone. I always wondered what it was like for other families to be together, talking and laughing. This year, with Xiaoli, I won't feel lonely anymore."

"I will always be with you." Song Li snuggled up to Jiang Qingzhou.

Suddenly, there was a crackling sound coming from the brazier, which scared Song Li.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and said, "It's firecrackers."

Song Li stood up and walked to the brazier to take a look. It turned out that a bamboo tube had really exploded.

Then there was another noise, and Song Li hurried to Jiang Qingzhou and hugged his arm.

Not long after, Song Li also yawned.

"Xiao Li, go to sleep."

"I don't want to, I want to stay with you."

"I think you can hardly open your eyes."

"Can you lie down with me for a while?"

"OK then!"

The two of them fell into a deep sleep together, leaving only the sound of firecrackers in the brazier going off one after another.